Mortgage fraud crackdown in Arizona;
The criminally accused include a former Countrywide loan officer who prosecutors say conspired with another man to take out more than $38 million in bank loans by recruiting strangers to fill out the applications.
According to prosecutors, the pair held seminars to attract willing “straw buyers,” disinterested parties who would claim to be the loan applicants in exchange for cash.
Another set of indictments involves six Valley residents, including a former Spectrum Financial Group loan officer, accused of recruiting and using straw buyers to take out loans on more than 100 homes, which prosecutors said led to more than $50 million in losses…
“It’s no accident that a lot of these folks were involved in the mortgage industry,” he said.
In addition, in most types of mortgage fraud you also have to have an appraiser on board.
BTW, mortgage fraud recently became a felony in Arizona.
“There’s going to be more investigations. There’s going to be more indictments.”
Good!